True Crime Stories

Once again I have come across a case that as I sit down to put things together I am unsure what my opinion is on what occurred in the case. There is not a lot of information out there on this case and I was forced to rely partly on comments made on some websites to which I will, as always, let you, the reader know when things like this occur. Part of the reason that there is not a lot of information about the crime itself or the victim is the fact that the person who was convicted of the crime, Donald Ruby, was not only exonerated but was said to be “factually innocent.” There is still a dispute on that apparently both from the public and from law enforcement. On May 27, 1984 in Perry County Pennsylvania a cardboard box was found along the shore of the Juniata River. Inside the box was the torso of a woman. The legs had been removed at the knees; the arms had been cut off at the shoulder and the head had been removed. Neither the limbs or head have ever been found. About 1...

This is one of the few cases that I blog about that does not involve a murder. There was a “plan” for a death; there were other crimes; there was even a dead body involved. These things alone make the case interesting. However, the other side of this case is the almost humor in the stupidity, arrogance and idiotic ideas of the perpetrators. The fact that they thought they could get away with their crime seems so ridiculous. I do not think the show exists any more, I could be wrong, but there used to be a show called America's Dumbest Criminals. I completely believe that Clay and Molly Daniels would be candidates to be on that show. On June 18, 2004 authorities in Leander Texas were called. My research was not clear as to whether when called if there was a vehicle still on fire, or even if it was hot at all. In the end what they did find was a Chevy Cavalier down in a ravine that had been burnt beyond recognition. The fire had burned so hot that even the metal on the v...

I am pretty sure this is one of the cases that I discovered while watching “Forensic Files,” which is in my opinion one of the best true crime shows. Unlike other shows this one is only thirty minutes long so there is little time to be bias and it fully sticks to the facts. They have portions where they interview people of course but again, it is full of facts. You can generally find the episodes fairly easy through different streaming apps, including YouTube so if you have not seen this show and you like true crime, which if you are here I suspect you do, it is worth checking out. Helen “Marlene” Oakes had been married to Bill Major for about nine years in 1980. They had married when she was sixteen and he was about twenty-seven. By 1980 they had two children, eight year old Donald and four year old LaLana and were living in Verona Kentucky. It was said that both Marlene and Bill were known to see other people through their marriage. In fact, it was well known that Marlene w...

  I have about three passions in life, true crime, genealogy and history. I admit that I am not an expert in any of these fields and I also admit that when it comes to history I am least interested in the World War II era. I do not know why, maybe it is the whole Hitler aspect, but I am least interested in that era. But, when it comes to civil rights and things like that I at least thought I knew quite a bit. I of course know about the cases such as Emmett Till, Medgar Evers and such. Apparently I had heard about Willie McGee or his name would not have made it to my list but I am unsure how much I knew. In my list it simply says “Willie McGee-Executed 1951.” I admit that even when I go through the list I do not go through every one of them each time so today was the first time I had really dug into the case. It is possible that previously when going through the list I just simply was not in the mood to do a case that involved execution. This makes me a bit sad because while...

So, I walked into my research on this one thinking that at worse I would have the issues that I often face doing a very, very old crime where dates and stories conflicted from read to read. I thought this case was pretty cut and dry... there was a mass murder, there was a perpetrator... the end. But thankfully for both you and I, I do not just stop at just a few things. I will dig and dig, sometimes to the point that I have to force myself to stop, this is just such a case. This case happened in 1920 and is still considered to be the worse mass murder incident in North Dakota. It is also alleged that “this is believed to be the fastest administration of justice on record in any state” and I cannot be sure I disagree, at least from a legal sense. Whether justice was actually served is apparently up for debate. A book was released in 2010 called The Murder Family by Vernon Keel. I have checked my local library to see if I could manage to find this book and so far I have not ha...